99 Red Balloons: Boston's overreaction & media circus

[lozza821]

OMG this is gorgeous!

[maroon5isawesome1]

lol

[purplestaticc]

haha. 3 years. love adultswim.

[treefrog302]

lmfao where did u get those?

[Residentlucashunter]

lol like 90% of the police officers are just standing around.

[MegaDaffy]

Not bad, but I thought it was a shame that after this Boston became the laughingstock of the country and the "butt" of a lot of jokes. I also think I like the Goldfinger cover of this song better but then again, that's just me.

[b33ftink]

What happens when Lite-Brites are capable of bringing a city to its knees?

To quote Counter-Strike, "Terrorists win."

[Sharif80]

Whitey Bulger is the man!!!!!!

[harwintonkath]

awesome!! perfect match ...between event and song. over-reaction and media circus indeed! Fight the power!

[CyberSmokeProduction]

this song fits this overreaction Our Paranoid government ready to pounce and nuke to death something totally harmless.

I feel comfortable with such power hungry idiots ruling over us with their finger on the button, dont you?

the Mooninites remind me of real hidden packages like from a GTA game.

[Sharif80]

GTA IV; brings back memories of when it came out...

[CyberSmokeProduction]

hehehe

yeah in IV they scream about terrorists when you go off on a psycho rampage

as soon as i saw the MOONINITE signs, i just thought instantly of hidden packages in GTA, the way they were placed everywhere in creative spots.

Too bad Rockstar couldnt include them.

[Sharif80]

yeah i know man; have u played Chinatown Wars? shits insane!

[CyberSmokeProduction]

yeah i got it for my ds, its pretty cool im suprised a DS game has music in it.

[Sharif80]

some of the music is pretty good too actually

[CyberSmokeProduction]

yeah it suprised me, im glad they kept the GPS from GTA 4. makes it easier.

[corrupt200]

I like the german version better

[MJB612]

i remember when that happened a few years back it was all over the local news

[xmod12]

r u the people that did it where the fuck did u get thoes im totaly going to down town reno n doing that

[foolsgoldsoma]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninites = terrorism. (According to Boston police.)

[iluvmyveedub]

LOL, I remember when this happened.

People were freaking out. What kind of retard mistakes a popular Adult Swim character for a bomb? Seriously?

"I hope they can see this because I'm doing it as hard as I can."

[cuddlekat3]

Get it? They see 99 red balloons and think it's war. Just like they see the little guy and think it's war.

[cuddlekat3]

You & I in a little toy shop buy a bag of balloons w/ the money we've got. Set them free at the break of dawn. 'Til one by one they were gone. Back at base, bugs in the software. Flash the message, somethings out there floating in the summer sky 99 red balloons go by. 99 red balloons floating in the summer sky. Panic bells it's red alert. There's something here from somewhere else. The war machine it springs to life opens up one eager eye. Focusing it on the sky. As 99 red balloons go by.

[goose1212343]

lol anon was prolly behind that somehow

[rojassssss]

i don't understan the relation between that and the song.... is it, that police just make such a show out of small things???

[batmaniz21]

yes

[DeadBirdCitizen]

Yes...a lot of hullaballoo (and tax dollars) over absolutely nothing.

[RoninTama]

Great analogy, never even thought of it.

A+ work mate.

[charliem790]

i remember that day i went to the T station down the street from my place and no train i had no idea what was going on til' i went home and saw all that on the news

[Lowbudget2]

I remember that incident kind of. Hearing about it. The one shown. Not the one mentioned though. It may have been before my time...

[mikemu79]

haha fuck boston bunch of pussys

[824DWP]

I've actually played with the things those were made out of for the people who don't know,remember they were made out of light brites and it had a crappy battery wire on job is what barney fifed the police.

[Kingfishersquadron75]

The innocent shall suffer-bigtime!

-The Mooninites.

[Shintsu2]

lol, it's funny how they're holding it like something from outer space. Like "OMG, a guy flipping us off! What does it mean?" lol

[FUBigPapi]

The perfect song for the whole phony scare. Even after they realize it was just a cartoon promo, they wear rubber gloves to handle the signs. Believe me, if they were terrorists, the stupid local police and Homeland Security would only find out about it from CNN after they exploded. :)

[aznk3n444]

lmao the media blowing things out of proportions since the big bang. hahaha

[babyhawk02]

i stilll liike this:)<3

[babyhawk02]

ayy this is cool =]

boston is an amazing place to be on :) <3

[flashbang24]

(_i_)

[wizKidd86]

Kiss my... (__|__) ...no offense.

[Sharif80]

first off, Boston kicks ass and it doesnt belong to niggers, but the hard working class

[varona84]

I live in the Boston area, but I was away at school when all of this happened and I saw it on the local news where my school was. I was SO upset, b/c pretty much all of the places these were found, are places I normally pass daily....but I dunno if I would have actually picked one of these up.....looks dangerous. We know its a hoax NOW, but in the heat of the moment, I can see why the police responded like they did.

[13091919]

i love the 80's

[13091919]

i love the chourus the music is deadly!The video is weird! It's a class song to!

[dreadlord45]

I hope you can see this Boston, because I'm doing it as hard as I can.

[waitingforthegift]

they need to super size the finger so boston can see it better >.>

[itsacoaster0]

Never forget.

[SwimOdin]

1-31-07

NEVER FORGET

[duzitickle]

happy anniversary boston.

you elected peeps sure looked stupid.

[binxbasilisk]

Ahhh, lulz.

[ntr204]

READ the WARNINGS, lite brite, age 3 and up! u could hurt urself

[scmrph]

Flee!!!! Flee!!!!! the lightbrights r coming

the lightbrights r coming FLEE!!!!!!!!!!

[13091919]

WHATEVER!

[NoiseOnMars]

Anyone notice the headline at 1:04, saying Police cleared the two supscious packges. Then right after it, they say the police are still investigating. Strange...

[rpetro7110]

How many of the lightbrights were placed? If there were 4 or more then the headline would make sense.

[Kenseioftheblade]

This event just shows the distances between our two generations, well we can see the humor in this, most adults simple say, "OMG ITS A EVIL ALIEN LIGHT BRIGHT ITS GONNA KILL US". I cant believe something like this would shut down an entire city.

[kiLLerkiLjOY]

wow i live in boston and all i have to say is that we overreacted big time. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ITS A TOY

[Powerfreshgirl1]

run its the evil lite brite We are all going to die!!!the light oh the light!!

[gray73]

Who ever thought of pairing this song with those events is fucking brilliant.

[jdawgsworld]

@gray73 yep...lol

[keeewpid]

Hey your record skipped Dude.

[jen8933]

come on now! who wouldn't be afraid. i mean a cartoon square thing giving the finger? DAMN! of course they were worried.

i myself crapped my pants and i was only watching on the tube...course i do crap my pants quite a lot lately--but heck! there's lots to be afraid of!

[soothsayer0]

excellent

[cuffzter]

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

-Benjamin Franklin

[emodemon11]

yea i ******* know wat u mean lol

[jda92]

look at it there is no way tht looks like a bomb lol u cant do anything with out being questiond lol its like in airports they say has any1 put any items in ur baggage with out ur knowledge how the f**k are u suppost 2 know lol

[jen8933]

they confiscated my toothpaste in san diego airport. it was a larger than travel size but was close to empty...also my bottle of water OOOOOO! water! toothpaste!

i read that some places (?) will now allow cig. lighters on board but still no toothpaste please.

[cinevolver77]

americans and their paranoia!

[TechnoHamster]

WOW. I didn't even know about this Boston thing but this video is very, very appropriate from what I can tell. Americans are so funny sometimes.

[Flooned]

While at a concert, Carlo Karges, the guitar player of Nena's band, noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked nothing like a mass of balloons but some strange spacecraft. After thinking this, he wrote "99 Luftballons"

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of ninety-nine balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by military forces.

[DMCAisCRAP]

awesome. simply awesome.

[Koolkevk]

When they blew one up at 1:30 that was so overreacting. People are afriad of anything now.

Guy 1:"OH MY GOD! It has HAS LIGHTS AND BEEPS!!!BOMB!!!"

Guy 2:"It's my cellphone..."

*police tackle him*

[CanutAa]

nice connection

[jda92]

this is stupid america is paranoid bout terrorist attacks u do a bit of gurilla advertising to day its a terrorist attack if u did it 8 years ago they would think nothing of it

[helsinki]

paranoia x 1000000

[oskapopstar9000]

this is a crazzy video i rember i was on my feild trip haha the were yellin at the kids not to look at them (-_-) good video

[Clerkpro]

Clever and insightful.

[TheManOnTheRock]

This song from 1983 tells a story of balloons floating into the air triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by the military.

1984 idiot!!!! #2, on that day i thought boston was going to explode, especially since I live there. From far away, these things looked like bombs. The LED lights looked like wiring. And whoever came up with the idea of putting them in high terror alert places like subway stations?

[HinduMan786]

I live very close to Boston and this crap was on the news all day. I thought NOTHING of it. When I first saw it, I said "overreacting" all the way till the end.

[jen8933]

did you put on your tin foil hat?

[TheManOnTheRock]

how did you know. Just kidding. But seriously, this was the stupidest advertising campaign ever!

[roozdee]

This is the stupidest reaction to one of the most cleverest advertising campaign. It goes to show how idiotic the people in Boston are!

[HinduMan786]

Except the majority of the people in Boston could've cared less. Go there and find out yourself instead of grouping everyone together, fool.

[mferg240]

look fuckface,if you have never been to boston,don't talk badly about the citizens of boston,it's a first class city,albeit a stupid mayor!

[13091919]

your a fuck face! ha! ha! ha! ha!

sorry just joking

[mferg240]

my friend there are a great many irish people who live in boston!

[PremaritalSexXM]

As someone who lives near boston..... Mayor Menino is a dipshit.

[lilhiphopgirl101]

why do you say that?

[HinduMan786]

AMEN. Menino sucks. The only reason why he's still in office is because nobody runs against him.

[XgenArea51]

That and you can argue with him. Who can understand mumbles Menino anyways?

[Schwartzwald663]

met him a couple times, came out to my summer camp, never once he did a talk to the camp, just shook hands and blabbered to his secretery

[ThatSpick]

some ppl are stupid. i thought the light thingys were cool, i would never think of it as bombs, good song fer the vid too

[supermatrix3]

fuckin hilarious

[Kordesh]

It's funny because its appropriate ^_^

[Colton5]

lol

[neonsalem1980]

I don't know, I can see both sides. Yeah, it was a cartoon they over reacted to. But then, it happened in the same city the hijackers left from. So, it isn't entirely unreasonable to think Boston would be very sensative to it. I can see the logic behind it, even if I don't necessarily agree it was the correct course of action.

[MajaHarris]

O SNAP, THE BOMB'S GLOWING! DON'T THEY DO THAT? I THINK THEY DO, I SAW IT IN A MOVIE!!!

When you want to kill someone, you tell them. -_-

[layouts77]

Very well done.

[dustball23]

Thank you!

[Awesimo]

Exactly what both the German and English versions are about.

[HinduMan786]

The song was created in 1984 and is a Cold War protest song. It's about 99 red balloons being released into the sky. A country (supposed to be the USA) sees them and thinks that they are enemy aircraft from another country (supposed to be the Soviet Union). They launch an all-out war against each other and in the end, the world is destroyed. The only thing left that helps people remember what the world once was is a red balloon.

[SaSSoNIR]

It's a fake with those neons?

[siskiyoufire]

well done

[willemellis]

perfect song for this

[215858452845]

People living in fear, what a shame.

[Ayries]

WTF? Who thinks NEON SIGNS are bombs *after* looking at them? Where the fuck would the bomb go, they're all narrow! XD

[tomterahedrob]

hey great parallel:then-nuclear war. now "terrorism".

[paulbrec]

This video is great.

However, you can't really blame the police for overreacting. I mean, when your IQ is in the low 20's, things like this tend to startle you.

[UncleRico13]

"I don't know which is more embarrassing, living in a country that OVER reacts in such a way, or the fact that they actually TOOK the payout from the Cartoon Network"

[Baratsuki]

Man...that could've been a total catastrophe if they didn't realize that the red things were balloons...

[NikoKun]

A more fitting song could never have been placed with this video...

[jen8933]

no it couldn't

[thesnake383]

WIN!

[hesave]

Nicely synch'ed to the 99 Red Balloons song, which tells of the massive paranoia during the cold war. I guess nothing has changed after 30 years.

[StandupTragedian]

Brilliant!

[Pachezcake]

This clip is awesome. I live in boston and when we found out what it really was me and my friends cracked up !!

[Xen012345]

Very nice comparison! The danger of overreaction to false positives. I love this video. 5 stars. I also linked to it to my blog.

[neverendingstory64]

AHAHHAHHAHAHA

awsome i love whoever did that

[samuraimanzero]

fuckin awesome video Mooninites teh r0xx0rs

[emmetieffe]

Ahahahaha! This is the result of living in fear!

Why americans don't try to change theyr mind?

No, they prefer to live in permanent alarm... suckers!

[duzitickle]

teh mooninintes > boston.

also:

jim samples ~ thanks for taking the hit.

youre the corporate scapegoat..

and that sucks, man.

[Kenektionz]

That must have been great for the adverts, they paid a fine, but now i want to see the ATHF movie

[pinkstocking]

Holy cow, you are correct about the song and the Boston

Boston scare being the same.

[peteryout]

I've loved "99 Red Balloons" all my life, I was flabbergasted at the moronic police response to the little LED cartoon characters... I never made the connection between the two. Kudos to you for doing so... brilliance, sheer brilliance!

[bonedaddy79]

I love this, Boston is full of idiots. Long live the Aqua Teens. Why the hell would anyone want to blow up Boston. That's a waste of good explosives.

[iroseland]

all of the sudden the TV show 24 is a little harder to believe

[helsinki]

imagine jack bauer chasing after the kids that put the signs up.....

[Sharif80]

HAHAHAHA

[dumpsky]

LOL, i like the footer:

BIZARRE CARTOON CONNECTION TO TERROR HOAX IN BOSTON!

but actually it should read: BIZARRE POLICE REACTION TO HARMLESS CARTOON AD. loooool!

[caveratfilmboy]

awesome, but I wish it was longer!

[givebeesachance]

This is just stage one. The moon uber alles!

[chief2009]

Great song to pick, never even thought of it!

[belanomolsifacktbano]

I'm just glad boston didn't blow up^^

[blackren101]

Damn! That was great!

[I3uttman]

OMG Great job! I'm gonna watch it again.

[skajules]

I love it...perfect song to fit the situation.

[drorpheus28]

Nice! I wish I'd thought to use that for my 1-31 tribute.

[captainloo17]

i love this song...its the best song ever

[hottloop992]

haha i love this

[HaceKaya]

Ya know I never really paid attention to that song, or what it was about, but wow, I think it's a great song, and I am gonna pretend that this is indeed the video for it!